It’s nearly Time for Smartwatches

Canalys have just started forecasting shipment estimates for smartwatches and it looks as if its going to be another explosive market.

They estimate shipments as follows:

2012 –330,000

2013 –500,000+

2014- 5,000,000+

They also estimate that the traditional watches market in 2012 was over a billion in shipment/sales terms.

“Canalys defines smart watches as smart wearable bands. Smart wearable bands are multi-purpose devices that can run third-party computing applications and are designed to be worn on the body, and not carried.”

Sony & Motorola were the early leaders but this year the remarkable Pebble having raised ove $10 million on Kickstarter will join them and per their blog have already shipped over 93,000 watches since the beginning of the year. In addition they have according to some obtained preorders for a further 190,000. BestBuy in the US are starting to stock them and a rather thoughtful article on what they are and what they are not from Forbes is well worth reading.

It looks as if most of the consumer electronics majors (eg Samsung, Apple and Google) will enter the fray.

Style, some say, will be a key feature so arguably Apple may yet again be a market leader although it is rumoured that their product iWatch (?) may not arrive until 2014.

The Pebble at $150 looks a bit utilitarian to us but at this early stage is the market trailblazer. UK retail availability looks minimalist on an initial trwl with a supplier offering an orange version at £250!